Page 11 of Right Place, Right Time
Adam glances across at our table, then reluctantly he sits again, and I can’t help notice he looks a little pale.
‘Ooh, what do you think Orla has seen in the cards?’ Luca asks, his eyes wide.
‘That’s between the two of them,’ Ben says firmly. ‘I don’t think we should speculate.’
Harriet, who is already leaning forward ready to gossip, sits back in her chair looking a little deflated.
‘I agree,’ I tell Ben.
After a few more minutes, Adam comes back over to our table. The colour has returned to his cheeks and he seems his usual confident self once more. ‘Well, that was …interesting,’ he says, sitting down.
I can tell Harriet is desperate to ask him more, but she restrains herself.
‘Were you happy with Orla’s reading?’ I ask tactfully.
‘Er … I’m not sure happy is the right word,’ Adam says, lifting his pint of beer. ‘Orla is extremely good, though. Very accurate. She wants to know if you’ll go over for a reading now, Eve.’
I look back over at the table where Orla is sitting shuffling her cards.
‘No, I don’t think so.’
‘Why not? It’s just a bit of fun.’
‘It didn’t look like fun when you jumped up from the table just now. You looked as white as a sheet!’
‘I was just playing along, you know?’ Adam says casually.
Adam seems to do everything casually and with apparent ease. It’s incredibly frustrating to someone like me. I feel like I’m constantly trying hard at everything I do in life. Adam has only known my fellow Clockmaker Court shopkeepers for an hour or two and already he seems right at home with all of them, as they equally do with him.
‘Oh really? It didn’t look like that to me.’
Adam shrugs good-naturedly. ‘Maybe I’m a good actor?’
‘Why don’t you let Orla read your cards, Eve?’ Harriet says encouragingly. ‘She’s read all ours, hasn’t she?’ She looks around at all the others.
‘Not mine she hasn’t,’ Ben says stoutly. ‘I don’t need a pack of cards to tell me my future.
’
‘Why doesn’t that surprise me, Ben?’ Harriet raises her eyebrows. ‘Orla loves to read for us and she’s very accurate, isn’t she, Rocky?’
Rocky nods. It is rare for him not to agree with something Harriet says. I get the feeling it is just easier that way.
‘Just leave the poor girl alone, Harriet,’ Ben says, coming to my rescue. ‘If she doesn’t want to, she doesn’t have to. In the same way as I don’t always eat the cake you insist on passing on to me when it’s a bit too stale to sell in your shop. It doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the offer. I just choose not to eat it every time.’
‘You don’t always eat it?’ Harriet asks, looking shocked.
Ben shakes his head. ‘Like I said, I appreciate you trying to look out for me. But it’s my choice what I do with the offer when it’s presented. In the same way as it’s Eve’s choice whether she has a reading or not.’
I think this is the most I’ve ever heard Ben say in one go.
‘Thanks, Ben,’ I say gratefully. I look over at Orla, assuming she’s still waiting at the table. But to my surprise, I see she’s already packed up her cards and is heading back over to us.
‘I’m sorry, Orla,’ I tell her as she sits back down in her seat beside Harriet. ‘I will let you read my cards one day.’ Orla nods serenely. ‘When the time is right.’
‘So, Adam, what are you going to do with your grandfather’s house when it’s been cleared by our Eve?’ Ben asks.
‘Nothing exciting – just sell it, I hope,’ Adam says. ‘Maybe I’ll be able to put a deposit down on somewhere in London then. Currently I rent.’
